“Conversation is open” – Mark Boucher says AB de Villiers can make international comeback after IPL 2021


“Conversation is open” – Mark Boucher says AB de Villiers can make international comeback after IPL 2021

AB de Villiers and Mark Boucher

AB de Villiers is without a doubt, one of the greatest to have played the game. The swashbuckling batsman has come up with several crucial knocks for his national side as well as domestic ones and franchises. However, he has unfortunately not been able to lift as many trophies as he would have liked. Especially with the national team, the ‘chokers’ tag has come back to haunt South Africa whenever they take part in a big tournament.

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de Villiers retired from international cricket in 2018 and despite the lack of match practice since then, the 37-year-old has been in imperious form whenever he has taken the field. His performances in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have been consistently top-notch and there have been continued talks of why he must come back to the national team.

Mark Boucher on AB de Villiers’ potential comeback

AB de Villiers
AB de Villiers

South Africa’s coach Mark Boucher spoke in an interview with a South African publication about de Villiers’ comeback and said, “I chatted to him before he went over to the IPL. The conversation is still very open. AB being the person he is, he wanted to perform very well at the IPL to prove to himself and everyone else that he’s still a key figure in world cricket and can dominate at that level. I said to him, ‘You go do your thing and I’ll give you a shout towards the end of the IPL and see where you are.'”

This seemed like a hopeful response that de Villiers would be back for the T20 World Cup. The aforesaid could be true especially because of how dismissive Boucher was, when asked of Duanne Oliver‘s prospect of a return where he said, “There’s a lot things that need to happen in order for him to even be considered. He’s got to show form playing at franchise level. We can’t judge him for what he’s done in the past or what he’s done overseas.”

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AB de Villiers is currently occupied with the RCB franchise in IPL 2021 where the side has won two in two matches.

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